Earthworks (Mineral Life and The Struggle for The Future)

The 10 critical minerals that will determine our future - and the extractive violence that it depends on.

As governments worldwide race to meet net-zero targets, the demand for critical mineral demand is exploding. But this pursuit reveals a terrifying truth: to mitigate climate change depends on a new form of planetary destruction.

Adam Bobbette tells the story of the ten minerals that will drive the future, - cobalt, coltan, copper, lithium, platinum, nickel, manganese, rare earths, tin, and finally sand. He travels to the smoking coal pits of Borneo, where mountains have been levelled and dead zones stretch along the coast. He exposes the horrors that are being done in the cobalt mines of Congo, the lithium deserts of Chile, the nickel smelters of Indonesia, and the toxic tailings ponds outside Johannesburg. And he charts the global race for these minerals since the 19th century while joining miners, geologists, activists, and artists who are shaping our mineral futures.

This book arrives at the precise moment when these supply chains are becoming geopolitical battlegrounds. Earthworks reimagines our relationship with the earth itself. It reveals how these materials connect us to places and people across the globe, making the case for a more ethical relationship with the mineral world.